Rules
by Calico0128
Summary: The Rundown Beck reflects on his rules. Post-movie. Friend fic, though could be seen as having slashy undertones... if you squint, really, really hard, lol. R


Kay, watched The Rundown for the millionth time last night, and scribbled this ficlet and another one during the movie. I apologize for the overall.... crap of it, lol. I just don't have the will to go back and make it better at the moment.

I really can't figure out why the fan output for this movie is so poor... there ought to be more...

* * *

Beck used to have rules… B.T. anyway (Before Travis). He's not exactly sure when he lost them. All he knows is there was a time when he said 'no breaks' and meant it. There was a time when he was 100%-could-swear-on-his-own-life-and-his-mother's-honor-certain that he wouldn't pick up a gun again, no matter the circumstances.

But those times of die-hard certainty, of black and white decision-making were long gone. Courtesy of one Travis Walker. Within 72 hours, he'd broken nearly every rule he'd ever given himself. Rules he'd made so he could always separate himself from the men he worked with, the men he hunted, and most important, Billy Walker. No guns, no breaks, no bribes, no killing. Gone. It'd all gone out the window within just 3 days of meeting _him. _And for the life of him, he can't figure out when or how it happened.

Maybe it was when Mariana duped the both of them with the _konlobos. _Maybe it was when Travis finally accepted his situation and was actually QUIET, (a miracle, cause he didn't seem capable of shutting up). Maybe it was when they learned Mariana and the Gato were in Hatcher's hands, and Travis's eyes became serious and he offered to help.

Beck's not sure when it happened, maybe he doesn't even really care.

All he knew was that when he heard Travis screaming for help from inside that burning bus that was quickly becoming swiss cheese, (how had he even managed that?!) there was no other choice, no other option but to save Travis and if it meant using guns, so be it. And so people had died. They had deserved it (if he had any right to make that call) but it left him with a bitter taste in his mouth.

Later when he was feeding Billy and his goons the _konlobos, _he knew he was breaking a promise, a deal. Something he didn't do. Ever. Yes, he had walked Travis through that door, but both he and Walker knew that it didn't really count. Not when he was drugging his boss and his cohorts to make a clean exit and run away. He wasn't stupid, he knew there was going to be hell for breaking his rules. He'd two-timed someone, albeit, a cruel arrogant son of a bitch who had no problem with murder, or theft, or beating his own damn son, but still… How did it make him any better than any back-stabbing drug-dealer, any swindling mob boss? It didn't. And yes, it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He couldn't trust himself not to be like the bastards he'd grown up with, the assholes he came across every day; men who had no rules, no way to control themselves. And there were moments when he doubted. Moments that drove him half-crazy, thinking about everything he'd every promised himself, promises all fallen to the wayside. For one rotten kid, a Stanford school dropout. A boy who'd managed, somehow, in 72 hours to destroy Beck's rules, completely, entirely, and without effort.

But for every time he doubted, there were a million more that he believed; believed in himself _because _of Travis.

How could he possibly doubt himself with those big, almost childlike eyes looking up at him, that cheeky grin on that scruffy face? How could he doubt that voice telling him he was one of the good guys? That man-child had to know if he was one of the bad men, didn't he? A man that pure (because, yes, he was pure, despite his childhood, his father, and that goddamned mouth) would have to know if his best friend was corrupt, or tainted, wouldn't he?

Beck didn't need the rules anymore. Travis would tell him if he was crossing the line. Travis would call him out and make him explain himself. Travis would put an end to any of his misbehavior, his asshatery and Beck would stop, for him.

There was a time when he needed rules, but that was all B.T.

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Hope you don't feel it was a complete waste of time, lol. Let me know what you think!


End file.
